Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck have achieved a varied outcome with their concurrent movies, ‘The Mother’ and ‘Hypnotic’. In the midst of Hollywood’s most famous power couples, Ben Affleck’s low-profile “Hypnotic” triumphed significantly against Jennifer Lopez’s “The Mother” which gave off a violent, saccharine impression in honor of Mother’s Day.
Lopez wore her Liam Neeson hat and diligently navigated the plethora of action which were oftentimes paradoxically highlighted or undermined by its unintentional comedy. Though there is no lack of enthralling content, the other elements appear to be made of recycled genre stereotypes.
The movie’s start divulges Lopez as a proficient sniper in the Afghan war, obligated to grant testimony against two fearsome men, one of which being an ex-lover, and ultimately exchanging it for witness-protection services. However, only a few seconds in, the expert marksman must temporarily part with her newly-born daughter so as to guarantee her safety.
A dozen years after the events at the start, Lopez’s undercover life in the Alaskan wilderness is abruptly brought to a standstill when her daughter, Zoe (portrayed by Lucy Paez), is found out and coerced back. With this, mother and daughter obtain the chance to become acquainted with each other - coupled with combat coaching - before the fateful encounter occurs.
Niki Caro (“Mulan”) directed the film and granted Lopez, the producer of the movie, the chance to produce hard-hitting one-liners à la “Taken”. Examples of this can be found when Zoe is used as bait for a sinister scheme, to which her mother answered by demanding “to Kill every last one of them”.
The talents of Joseph Fiennes and Gael Garcia Bernal were lost to unconvincing antagonism while adolescent stupidity and unexpected scenes such as the snowmobile chase incongruously appeared as if straight from a James Bond flick.
Since her Oscar nomination for “Hustlers”, Lopez has thrown herself into projects, albeit most of which are mostly unremarkable including the rom-com “Marry Me” and “Shotgun Wedding”. Regardless of her progress as a producer, her present-day film choices remain a little erratic, not quite meeting the same standard of her talented marksman role.
Despite the image of Lopez and a rifle beneath a big furry hat already being an advertisement, it may still be insufficient for some Netflix subscribers to bother with “The Mother”. In comparison, Affleck stands tall in “Hypnotic” which mirrors the Twilight Zone atmosphere and injects twists along the way.
The tale of a grief-stricken father (Affleck) desperate to save his abducted daughter by enlisting the assistance of a fortune teller (Alice Braga) as well as the creepy manipulator (William Fichtner) in charge of mind control with strange visual accompaniments alludes to “Fallen” but remains gripping till the conclusion.
However, it begins to lag slightly near the finish and might end up premiering on streaming services much earlier than originally expected, which may still suit its target audience.
Finally, Affleck also recently released his directorial debut “Air” which had a reasonable theatre-run and it is this particular venture that is holding the majority of the spotlight at the Affleck-Lopez house.
“The Mother” hits Netflix on May 12 and has an R rating.
“Hypnotic” is in theatres from May 12 and also has an R rating.
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